“The solution has been identified to restart waste collection in the approximately two hundred municipalities in Sicily affected by the stop at the TMB plant in Lentini, in the Syracuse area”. This was announced by the president of the Sicilian Region, Renato Schifani, who has just signed a specific ordinance in his capacity as extraordinary commissioner for waste.
A decisive step forward was recorded today thanks to the approval of two opinions by the CTS Coordination Unit on the basis of which the projects presented by Sicula Trasporti for the modification of the biostabilization systems of the wet fraction and mechanical treatment of non-hazardous urban waste. The documentary integration provided by the company has in fact allowed the specialist technical commission for environmental authorizations of the Region to positively re-evaluate the requests rejected last December.
Pending the completion of all the authorization measures, during a meeting chaired by the Energy Councilor Roberto Di Mauro it was also decided that, temporarily (twenty days), the waste will continue to be stored and treated in special areas in the Lentini plant, under the strict monitoring and control of the competent bodies.
Present at the meeting were the head of the Legislative and Legal Office of the Region, Giovanni Bologna; the general managers of the regional Environment departments, Patrizia Valenti; of Water and Waste, Arturo Vallone; by Arpa Sicilia, Vincenzo Infantino; the head of cabinet of the Presidency of the Region, Salvatore Sammartano, and the manager of the department’s “Waste Authorizations” service, Francesco Arini; as well as the managers of the main landfills in Sicily (Enna, Gela, Motta Sant’Anastasia and Siculiana).
Following the emergency provision, the owners of the plants willing to collaborate will start the procedures for the so-called ‘homologation’, a process which, based on the chemical, physical and product characteristics of the waste, will allow it to be dumped in their plants, limited to the available spaces. At the same time, the procedure will be defined that will allow the continuation of the disposal operations of the waste treated by Sicula Trasporti for sending to other plants outside the region.
“In this way – concludes governor Schifani – we avoid risks to public health, also due to the high temperatures of the last few days. An extraordinary and temporary measure, supported by health and environmental opinions, awaiting the conclusion of the path that will lead to the reopening of the ‘Lentini plant’.
“The municipalities concerned are required to reduce the quota of undifferentiated waste, so that disposal is guaranteed. Now – declares the mayor of Catania Enrico Trantino – the ball is in our court: if we do not dispose of it regularly, the landfills will not be in a position to receive any more waste.
Compliance with the rules cannot pass through sanctioning initiatives alone, which can never be sufficient when comparing the small number of our operators responsible for control and the size of the phenomenon. It depends on us Catanese whether to live as men and among men or among cockroaches and rats.
